Kitchen Call: Hints of springtime green

Monday

Mar 31, 2014 at 2:02 PMMar 31, 2014 at 2:02 PM

By Linda BassettMore Content Now

Going green is a great way to celebrate spring  by incorporating the color into fresh new dishes.A spring morning starts out with cheddar cheese biscuits flecked with bacon and chives. The three flavors harmonize with eggs, whether scrambled, fried, or boiled. No fussy poached eggs. But a good strong cup of coffee laced with cream wards off the chill. The leftover biscuits, if any, make a fine go-along for supper, too.Later in the week, homemade bread rises slowly in a warm kitchen to celebrate spring. Tiny sprinkles of green throughout the batter remind us of blades of grass. Thick cottage cheese and sour cream make that batter voluptuous, kind of invoking Venus, goddess of love, right at the moment she stepped out of that scallop shell. Wasnt that the first day of spring?Those potatoes, by the way, as tiny as you can find them, go with beef, or chicken, or that plain old fish. Sometimes I add a heaping handful of snap peas to the pot in the last three minutes of cooking. The color soothes my eyes after too much snow and makes a side dish look important.These recipes all deserve a bunch of daffodils on the table.MINTED NEW POTATOESServes 4 to 6 1 pound tiny whole new potatoes 2 T butter 1/4 cup chopped parsley 2 T chopped mint 1 t Dijon mustard Salt, pepperScrub the potatoes; leave them whole. If there are any larger ones in the batch, cut them into 1-1/2 inch chunks so they cook evenly.Put the potatoes into a pot with water to cover. Bring to a boil; add salt and cook at a medium boil for 15-20 minutes. Drain well so the finished dish is not watery.Return the potatoes to pot. Add butter, parsley, mint, mustard. Season with salt, pepper to taste.ONION-DILL BREADMakes 1 loaf; easily doubled 2 to 2 1/2 t dry yeast 3 1/3 cups unbleached white flour 1/4 t baking soda 1/2 t salt 1 egg 1/4 cup water 3/4 cup small-curd cottage cheese 3/4 cup sour cream 3 T sugar 2 T dill 1 T chopped fresh chives 1 1/2 T butterFollow the package directions for preparing the yeast. Flour a work surface.Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.In a separate bowl, mix together the egg, water, cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar, dill, chives and butter.Stir the ingredients together in one bowl. Form this mixture into a ball; knead gently on the floured surface until soft and elastic. Set in a buttered bowl; cover with a towel; set aside to rise for 90 minutes.Punch down the dough, and knead lightly for about a minute. Place in a buttered loaf pan. Bake at 350 F for 40 to 45 minutes.CHEDDAR, BACON & CHIVE BISCUITSMakes 6 biscuits; easily doubledIf you dont have a biscuit pan, you can use shallow muffin tins. 3 cups all-purpose flour 4 t baking powder 3/4 t salt 1 stick cold unsalted butter 1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese 1/3 cup chopped fresh chives 6 bacon slices, finely chopped and fried until crisp 1 1/2 cups milkPosition a rack in the lower third of oven. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Lightly spray the wells of a biscuit pan with nonstick cooking spray.Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles large crumbs. Stir in milk until the mixture is just combined. Stir in cheese, chives and bacon.Divide the batter evenly among the wells of the buttered pan. Bake until golden, about 30 minutes. Pierce with a toothpick in the center to check for doneness.Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Then, turn the pan onto the rack to remove the biscuits. Cool them for 5 minutes.Linda Bassett is the author of From Apple Pie to Pad Thai: Neighborhood Cooking North of Boston. Reach her by email at KitchenCall@aol.com. Read Lindas blog at LindABCooks.wordpress.com. Follow Linda for quick recipes on Twitter at @Kitchencall.